The Starry Black Sky
by Nightlightiscoolbro
Summary: North has a new invention (a cloud you can sit on) and Katherine and Nightlight are going to test it out. But as things go awry from vaporizing clouds to black-as-night arrows, Nightlight and Katherine have each other to hold onto. LITERALLY! Rated T for injury. DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Guardians of Childhood.


Nightlight was leading me up into the stars.

North had developed a way to make a cloud that you could sit on. Nightlight was very excited to try it out, so we were heading into the sky to test it out.

I knew it didn't matter if it didn't work. Nightlight would never let me fall.

"Where are we going, Nightlight?" I asked, laughing.

But he only smiled, pulling me higher into the sky. I had never heard Nightlight speak, although I knew he could. His laugh was compensation enough, though. It came often and always put me in the mood that I needed to be in.

Finally, we got to a certain point in the sky, and Nightlight pulled out the cloud.

He unrolled the vapor, and sat down on it. So maybe it worked? Nightlight could fly naturally, so there were two ways this could go.

Nightlight carefully sat me down next to him. He let go of my hand, and, although I won't ever admit it to anyone, my hand felt colder without his touch.

I was sitting on a cloud! Well, sort of, but still! It was an exhilarating feeling, and Nightlight's presence made it all the more better.

I sheepishly glanced over at him, only to find he was already looking. But he didn't turn away like most boys would. He was confident like that, so he just smiled.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I asked. I looked at the star-filled air surrounding us, and sighed in wonder. Nightlight only nodded.

We looked at each other sheepishly for a few seconds that rested back on the cloud. I laid down and he laid down with the top of his head touching the top of mine. As I stared dreamily up at the beautiful twinkling lights, something brushed against my hand. I glanced down and saw that Nightlight's hand was directly beside mine. It was grazing my hand, like he was scared to hold it.

So I wrapped my fingers around his hand. I could sense him stiffen, and then he relaxed. He squeezed my hand and I squeezed his back. We continued to stare at the wonder of the stars and moon. Wait, the moon? What did Nightlight think about when he saw the moon? Was Nightlight thinking about his life beforehand? When he protected the Man in the Moon?

"Hey, Nightlight," I said, "don't you think we should be heading back now?"

He let go of my hand again, stood up, and begin jumping on the cloud. Oh, that's right! We still had to test it!

I began jumping on the cloud, giggling. Nightlight was making silly faces at me as he jumped, laughing his perfect laugh with each bounce.

But then, the cloud vaporized. I was falling.

It was so sudden that I didn't even scream. I just looked upward at Nightlight. His face was shocked at first, as he floated in the air, but then it was panic-stricken and determined. He shot down toward me, grasping at the air for my hands. I reached out to him too, but our fingers were just barely grazed each other. No more.

As I hurtled to the ground, I was thing of all the people (and Snow Gooses) I would miss when I died. North, Ombric, stiff old Bunnymund, the village children, Kailash... But I would miss Nightlight most of all. His laugh, his smile, his bravery and loyalty. Yes, I would miss him greatly.

Just as I was thinking these sad thoughts, Nightlight managed to grab my hand. To avoid breaking my wrist, he carefully fell with me, dropping down to the point where he could carry me. He caught me and slowly, slowly, dropped us into a halt. He looked down at me with a gaze that said, "I'm so sorry, are you alright?"

"Nightlight, don't worry. I'm fine. Besides, I knew that if I fell, you would catch me," I whispered in his ear.

He smiled at that and hugged me closer to his body. I felt safe there, like nothing would ever happen to me.

Then something remarkable happened.

"Katherine," Nightlight said with a magical, musical voice, "I love you. I would never let you fall. Well, I would let you fall in love, but that's something else."

I was stunned. Not only was Nightlight talking, he was telling me he loved me! Nightlight, loving me. That thought made me tingle with heat.

"Nightlight, I... Thank you. For saving me, and for loving me. I love you." I responded confidently, considering my shock.

He smiled and leaned his head down towards mine. But just as our noses touched, I heard an evil scream followed by a loud laugh.

"Love?" said Pitch, "You love each other, do you? That's so adorable! Too bad I hate adorable..." He smiled evilly, threw his hands to where they were level with his shoulders, and forced a large wave of Fearlings at the two of us.

Nightlight responded quickly. He maneuvered to the ground, not hitting a Fearling once, all the while holding me tightly to his chest. I don't know why I did it - maybe out of fear, maybe to bring Nightlight closer - but I wrapped my arms around his back and squeezed. He didn't notice, though, because he was so busy dodging Fearlings.

"Oh, I am much to tired to fight you tonight. These battles really are exhausting. But don't you dare forget to tell the people of Santoff Claussen that I am coming for them..."  
Pitch said, cackling as he disappeared into the darkness of the sky.

The Fearlings left as quickly as they had come, leaving Nightlight and I floating in a giant starry river. He glanced down at me worriedly, but I just smiled at him. I let us go back to where we were before Pitch had randomly attacked us. Nightlight leaned his face closer to mine, and I leaned mine to his. Our noses grazed each other, and, finally, we closed the distance.

It was a soft kiss, but it felt amazing. Kissing Nightlight was like kissing the stars mixed with tenderness and love. He was so careful, like he didn't want to mess this up. I pulled his body closer, something he seemed to like. When we broke apart, he was grinning from ear to ear. I smiled back and kissed him on the cheek.

He was glowing like crazy as he dropped down on to the roof of our treehouse. He carefully set me down, but I didn't let go of him, so he wrapped his arms around me, hugging me to him. We stood like that for a bit, then Nightlight kissed the top of my head, and dropped his arms. He took a step back and grinned.

"Thank you, Nightlight, for saving me. And for loving me, especially," I told him.

He continued to smile and nod as he jumped from the treehouse. He somersaulted in the air, doing fancy tricks in excitement.

But then something horrible happened.

I heard a loud thunk coming from Nightlight's direction. I turned to see the problem, and a sharp, thick pain filled me.

A large black arrow was protruding from his chest, as well as sticking out of his back.

"I told you to tell your village. Instead you're up here being lovebirds. So say goodbye to Nightlight," Pitch hissed from somewhere in the air, "That arrow is made of the blackest night, and the deepest poison. He will be gone in a matter of minutes. Don't worry," he smiled evilly at this, "he won't even be able to hear you say, 'I love you,' one last time. I must admit, Katherine, this is much more fun than taking you prisoner and having to fight off your pathetic Guardian friends."

As I listened to Pitch, Nightlight's face became a contorted with emotions. Anger, fear, pain, worry, love... They all played across his face. Where the arrow was stuck I could visibly see black taking over his pure white body. Even his clothes were being turned black. As it spread, Nightlight's eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell out of the sky.

"Nightlight!" I screamed. As he fell past me, I reached out to grab him. I caught his hand, but all that did was drag me along with him. We fell through the trees slowly. But somehow, on the way down, Nightlight realized that I had been taken down with him. True horror filled his body, I sensed it, and he forced me to turn to where he would get the worst of the fall. I tried to protest, but even when Nightlight was an inch away from death, he was still strong and brave. There was no way he was going to let me die.

We smacked the ground with a crack. I didn't receive any pain, only Nightlight. When he hit, the part of the arrow where the feathers were snapped off. I could tell he wanted to scream out in pain, but he didn't.

He was dimming quickly, and I didn't know what to do.

"Nightlight!" -no response- "Nightlight! Can you hear me?! Nightlight?!"

He nodded through the pain.

I decided to take action. "Nightlight, I'm going to break off the shaft of the arrow so I can carry you to Ombric. Are you ready?"

His head moved, so I took it as a yes.

I carefully placed my hands on either side of the arrow. Then, I somehow managed to snap the arrow protruding from his chest.

Nightlight was flickering now. I couldn't help the tears rolling on to my face.

"What's going on here? I heard- Oh no..." North said as he approached.

"North," I gasped through my tears, "Nightlight's been hit with an arrow. By Pitch. He said it was made of the blackest night and the deepest poison. Then he said Nightlight would only have minutes to live! And look! He's already dimming!"

"Then we have no time to lose. Let's go!"

North carefully picked up Nightlight, and began running for Ombric. He reached the man quickly.

"Ombric, Nightlight needs your help. What do we do?" he said.

Ombric examined Nightlight quickly, then pointed to his study. "Bring him with me."

Once inside, Ombric instructed them to clear a space somewhere where Nightlight could be laid down. This wasn't an easy task as books were piled everywhere and Nightlight's lengthy body was so... lengthy.

Not caring what people saw, I grasped Nightlight's hand and cried. Nightlight was almost completely black, which in his case meant death. I didn't want Nightlight to be gone, I wouldn't let him go!

"I don't really know what to do. We could try taking the rest of the arrow out of him," Ombric said. He mumbled some magic and the rest of the arrow that had been stuck inside Nightlight slid itself out. He groaned, but his light shined the tiniest bit brighter.

"I'll perform all the healing spells I know, and we'll just have to see what happens," Ombric said when that was finished.

After about ten minutes, Ombric had quickly gone through his healing spells. He told me that there wasn't anything else he could do and left me with North and Nightlight.

"Nightlight," I choked, "Nightlight!"

"Don't leave me, Nightlight." I whispered.

North wrapped his big arms around me and gave me the biggest hug I had ever received. He was somewhat like a big brother to me, and that was something I really needed.

"Katherine, honey, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I know Nightlight was your best friend, maybe even something more than that," he looked at me carefully, "We're all going to miss him greatly if he passes. But, you know, I think he'll live. I really do."

North left after that conversation and his own healing spells. I stayed behind with Nightlight.

"Katherine?" Nightlight whispered.

"Yes, Nightlight?" I said quietly, leaning my face down towards his to hear.

"Will you read to me?" he asked with a small smile on his face.

"Of course," I found my book quickly and began reading the poems I had written. There were ones about falling eggs, cows jumping over moons, foolish siblings tumbling down a hill. Then I got to the poems about him.

_You are the sunshine  
You make my day worthwhile  
I love you, Nightlight_

Some of the poems about him didn't make any sense, like that one. They were just kind of put together in an order that would be a maze to anyone but us. But Nightlight seemed to enjoy these poems, so I continued until I had no more.

Nightlight was smiling now. His light was still dim, though, so I began to rub the back of his hand.

Suddenly, I remembered the easiest trick for curing someone. The one that was the very first lesson of magic.

"I believe," I whispered, slowly getting louder, "I believe, I believe. I believe."

Nightlight's light grew brighter with every word, so I continued until he practically dazzling. I was so happy, I think I was dazzling too.

He waved his hand for me to come closer. He was still somewhat weak, and I suppose he didn't really like to talk still.

As I leaned in, his hand reached behind my neck and pushed my face closer. He looked into my eyes, and I looked into his. I had never noticed how crystal-blue his eyes are. They were amazing.

He pushed my face the rest of the way and kissed me. It was just as tender as the one earlier, but it was longer, sweeter, stronger. It was perfect.

When we pulled away, Nightlight was glowing brighter than I'd ever seen him. I smiled.

"So I'm going to guess you're fine?"

I turned around to see Ombric and North watching us. I blushed heavily. When did they get here?!

"Yes, Katherine's magic worked better than anything. She is truly amazing," Nightlight told them.

They're mouths were hanging open. Probably from Nightlight's speech, but possibly also because they had also just seen us kissing.

"Yes, quite," Ombric coughed, "So you are better? Good. You can stay here if you like, or you can go... do whatever it is you do."

"I'll consult with Katherine. Thank you," Nightlight said.

"Alright then," North said. He winked at me, then laughed. They left.

"Soooo," I said. "Do you want to stay here? Or do you want to leave?"

"I think you know which one," he grinned slyly. He took my hand, sat up, and led me to the treehouse. Kailash was waiting for me there. I snuggled into her soft feathers. Nightlight sat on the roof of the treehouse, watching me carefully. I smiled up at him.

He smiled back at me.

**I just love this couple so much! Nightlight is just... He's amazing. Did you see my name? It's made after him!**

**So do you think I should continue? If so, where do you want this to go? But let's keep it PG please! Love you, thanks for reading!**


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